Exorcising the Demon Sourdough Starter

Published: December 2, 1988

To the Editor:

A baking item from Marshfield, Vt., described the multiplying and lasting qualities of a particular jar of sourdough starter that comes with the recipe for an Amish friendship cake (Living section, Nov. 16): the starter dough is first augmented over a nine-day period with milk and sugar, then, once used for baking the friendship cake, is to be divided among three friends. The cake has become known as ''the chain-letter cake'' and ''the cake from hell.''

I had a thought for the innocent victims of this persevering demon sourdough starter that, once begun, threatens to keep expanding forever:

When the dough rises up from its bowl, oozes over the rim and moves on the house - pale, gaseous and growing - might not the hand of the virtuous halt the advancing horror by thrusting into its path a hot cross bun? (A bagel probably wouldn't do the trick.) JANIS O'CONNOR Philadelphia, Nov. 17, 1988